Modern Apocalypse
by cFairyWriter
Summary: 5 years after a cataclysmic event in the modern world, nothing is left but ash and pockets of survivors. Natsu, Gray and Gajeel have been wandering together for years in search of somewhere to call home. After all this time you would think things were starting to look up for them...right? Rated M for language mostly. I don't own FairyTail or the characters though that'd be nice
1. Chapter 1

**These little ideas for things keep popping up in my head so I'm gonna write this one out and see where it goes. Anyways the main idea is a Modern AU where, 5 years after an Apocalyptic event, the world is nothing more than ash and stragglers trying to survive. The tale begins with three well known characters of the FairyTail world and follows them on their way across North America, seeking shelter and a place to hopefully call home. Please y'all review and tell me what you think cause I don't know if I'll continue with this**

Dusk fell upon the small destroyed town. A small wind wound itself through the emtpy, eerily grey buildings before continuing on its way back down the main road. Three figures strode down that same street, pulling their hoodies and scarves tighter to their faces as ash and dust was thrown around from the wind. Walking behind them the farthest to the right was the tallest, with a large, buttoned up black jean duster that fell to his knees with the only other thing being seen were his dark brown trousers and black combat boots leaving large tracks in the dust of the road. The fartherst on the right was dressed mostly the same, though instead of a black duster his was a dark blue. His dark black hair wasn't covered with a hoodie like his counterpart though, leaving it open to dust and ash to fall silently onto it like snow on a feild. Shifting slightly he moved some of the weight in his pack around to try and give his back a break.

"Fucking wind. Think I just ate some more dust." The tallest of the three figures growled from underneath a black hood and an even blacker bandana that covered his mouth.

"Probably more nutritious than Natsu's cooking." The man on the left snorted when the man in the middle hit him in the chest.

"Shut up, Gray." The muffled voice came from under a miraculously still white scarf. A grey duster outlined his dirtied blue jeans and a red Chicago Blackhawks baseball cap sheilded his hair and eyes.

"We've gotta find somewhere to rest for the night." The gravelly voice from the tallest of the three pointed towards what looked like an old hotel about two blocks away. "That looks like a good place to try and find some food." The others nodded and the small group headed along down the road towards the large building.

"Holy shit is that an-"

"It totally is!" Gray cut Natsu off before he could finish.

"Never thought I'd be this happy to see a god damned Super 8 again in my life!" The three men laughed and strode up to what used to be the front doors of the hotel.

"Knock knock!"

"Shut up Gajeel there could actually be somebody here." At that moment Natsu tripped over what was left of a glass door frame and hit the ground.

"Smooth as a Salamander." Gray laughed whole heartedly as his friend of four years brushed himself off and stood up.

"Fuck off." The three looked around. The lobby was of an average size with random couches and chairs scattered around and a desk facing them, all covered in ash and dirt of course.

"Guns out boys; sweep the place." Gray pulled a pair of Beretta M9's from underneath his duster and pointed them down the hallway to his right. Gajeel did the same with a pair of Colt Anaconda's and headed down the left hallway to sweep those rooms.

"Guess I get the front desk and the kitchen." Natsu grunted and brought around the shotgun that hung on his back. Stepping carefully through the ash he jumped the counter and checked the back room, finding nothing but an old candy bar that was far from edible. Sighing he thudded his way around the desk and down a single hallway just off the one that Gajeel had wandered into towards what he assumed would be a kind of ballroom and kitchen. Finding exactly that he swept the place quickly looking for signs of other people and, to his relief, finding none. "Please something canned, please something canned." The kitchen proved a slightly better ordeal in that Natsu found three cans of peaches along with some beans and what looked like Campbells soup, though the label had worn off years ago. Throwing them all into the seperate coat pockets that dotted his duster Natsu headed back to the front where his companions were already waiting for him.

"Find anything?"

"Rooms were all cleared. Thought I saw a cat but he was probably to skinny to eat anyways."

"Same thing except for the cat, you?" Natsu grinned and threw down the canned goods.

"Looks like supper is a treat tonight boys!" The three men grinned and picked up the cans to move into the first room of the right hallway.

"I'm going to make this soup outside." Natsu grabbed matches and some kindling from Gray's pack after the man threw it onto one of the beds, coughing while dust from the action filled his lungs.

"Sounds good. Keep the shotgun handy, this place is giving me the creeps." Gajeel called from the bathroom that was right beside where the door to the hallway stood, testing to see if the miracle of running water was still in the building. Nodding at the advice, Natsu himself walked out and back into the street to start a quick fire. Using some tongs he held the can of soup- beef and barley as it turned out- over the yellow flames and whistled to himself while the contents heated up. Looking around he noticed the Sun was close to hiding away behind the buildings and hoped that he was inside before it truly got dark.

"World is to fucked up for anyone to be out here at night." He kept whistling until the soups was steaming and quickly kicked out the fire before running inside. Natsu hated the dark, especially now a days. He knew it was childish but the shadows always gave him funny ideas about what was lurking in them, playing with his mind and making him see things. Just as he got through the front doors he made the mistake of looking down the left corridor and nearly shrieked in horror before sprinting towards his room and slamming the door shut in desperate fear.

"Guys! Guys I think I saw some-" Natsu stopped mid sentance. Gray and Gajeel were sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor, not making a sound and staring at the ground in front of them.

"Shit." The door behind him opened and the cold feeling of a gun pressed itself against the back of Natsu's head.

"You're damn right shit. Now go sit down and don't do anything fucking stupid." Natsu did as he was told and sat down beside the other two to form a trainge on the ground in front of the two beds in the room.

"That was way easier than it should have been." A boy with orange hair and a long red coat knelt down behind Gajeel with a blade pointed into the back of his neck.

"Tell me about it." An identical boy knelt behind Natsu and pressed his own knife to the back of Natsu's neck.

"Now now twins, we can't talk while our guests are praying for their lives." From where Gajeel was sitting he could see the man talking to the twins now, an older looking man with a small tattoo below each eye and long grey hair spiked around his head.

"Come on Erigor let's just kill em now and be done with it!"

"Now now boys, give them a chance to pray." Erigor smiled and put his gun to Gray's head, cocking the hammer back. A sudden sound, nothing more than a picture frame falling, distracted the men to look to the hallway. It was a mere second of broken concentration, but it was long enough for Gray, Natsu and Gajeel to fight back. Natsu and Gajeel both spun and threw their elbows out to connect with the jaws of their knife-weilding captors, sending the younger men down with small thuds. The two didn't have much time to do much else other than scream before a knife came plunging down into their throats to send gouts of blood spurting from the veins. Gurgling in unison the action even caught Erigor off guard and the man only remembered Gray when two M9 barrels were pressed against the underside of his jaw.

"Pray as much as you want, God is gone." Gray pulled the triggers and sent blood and brain splashing across the wall between the two beds behind Erigor. Re-holstering his fire arms Gray grabbed the can of soup that Natsu had left to sit in the middle of their triangle and gulped back some of the now luke-warm broth.

"Really? Can't even warm up soup properly? Jeeze you're awful at this."

**So, that's that. I really need to hear what y'all think on this one so please review and comment and anything/everything else you wanna do! Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

He hated night watch. He hated it enough that it was the reason Gray and Gajeel continually put him on night watch. It was only for a few hours but still, the leftover batteries were supposed to be for emergencies only and starting a fire could alert any enemies, such as the now dead bodies that lay outside the building, to where they were meaning that all he had as a full source of light was the full moon that gazed down upon the Earth from above. Therefore Natsu sat on a chair inside the door of their room flicking on and off a lighter that he had carried around with him for the last five years. Gray and Gajeel snored peacefully in beds that had been very carefully combed for any blood or brains that were left over from the incident with the twins and Erigor. Thinking back to that small skirmish Natsu reached down and un-holstered his new gun from his right ankle. It was a Baretta 92FS, standard gun amongst anybody who wanted to defend themselves before all hell broke loose years ago. Raiding even the smallest of gun shops led to finding at least an ammo box or four for the guns making them common beyond all belief so luckily the group had lots of the exact ammo that was needed for the gun.

While he did enjoy his shotgun Natsu had needed a longer ranged weapon for quite a while now. Just a few weeks ago a fire-fight had erupted between their group and another one after somebody had tried to steal one of Gajeel's studs, off of his face, while he was sleeping. While the first couple of people had been relatively easy to subdue being at such close range the others had quickly dispersed making Natsu's shotgun ineffective for the rest of the fight. Remembering a few weeks ago Natsu felt the tears forming in his eyes. The group had still been four back then, but that fight had brought their numbers down and lost them all a good friend.

"Fuckin hell, why'd you have to be so stupid." Natsu re-holstered the gun in anger and continued to play with his lighter for a bit before checking his watch. About half an hour now until he could wake up Gajeel and get some sleep. Wiping the weariness from his eyes Natsu was about to get up and stretch when something crunched from outside the room. Panicking the man pulled his switchblade from his back jean pocket and hid behind the door as it slowly opened inwards. Soft footprints moved their way through the doorway to the bathroom where the intruder seemed to stop and start opening cabinet doors.

"_Looking for anything hidden no doubt._" Whoever the intruder was he was smart enough for that to be his first apporach to his investigation. Holding his breath Natsu slammed the door shut and charged the intruder head on. His yelling woke Gray and Gajeel who both jumped from their sleep with guns ready to go. Natsu for his part landed in the bathtub with the would be intruder though the initial shock from his tackle had knocked the switchblade out of his hand and into the sink. Though he couldn't see anything he felt the first blow land on his head and the second hit his inner thigh. Cursing he threw his own punch and finally felt the satisfying feeling of his fist connect with...boob? Realizing that it was in fact a woman he was fighting, and a very well endoubed woman at that, Natsu jumped from the bathtub and full on sprinted out of the dark room while slamming the door behind him.

"The fuck is going on in there?!" Gray was panting from the adrenaline coursing through his veins.

"I have a switchblade! Don't you fucking come in here!" A female voice resounded from inside the bathroom. Natsu Was still pulling on the door handle to make sure that the woman didn't pull it by surprise and yank him back into the bathroom with her.

"Is that a chick?"

"Yes that's a chick!"

"Why the hell is there a chick in the bathroom?"

"Oh well you know I opened up the curtain of the shower and suddenly she was there WHY DO YOU FUCKING THINK SHE TRIED TO BREAK IN AND I LOCKED HER IN THERE!" Gajeel laughed as Natsu's face got redder and redder from frustration.

"I SWEAR TO GOD I KNOW HOW TO USE THIS AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO DO SO!" The girl screamed at them again, more desperation laced into her voice than before.

"I'd say there's about another three hours before we get any sunlight which gives us two options, open fire on the bathroom and kill her or wait till daylight and leave the room and her here." The three men stood thinking for a good minute about Gajeel's plan until Gray finally spoke up.

"She didn't hurt any of us so I don't think we really need to kill her. Plus it's kind of a waste of ammo." The other two nodded in agreement.

"Alright then. I'm going back to bed." Gajeel stumbled his way back to his bed and flopped down on it without looking back. Gray nodded his approval at the plan and did the same. Natsu, alone once again, sat down in the chair and put the shotgun by his chair.

"I don't know how much of that you heard, but you're lucky were nice. I'm gonna sit hear 'till the Sun comes up and then we're gonna head out of here to look around town. While were gone you can let yourself out and never come back, got it?" Silence resonated from the bathroom but Natsu knew for a fact that he was loud enough she could hear him.

"Do you promise?" The small voice was closer to the door, she had moved.

"Stick a needle in my eye." There was a small hint of laughter from the other side of the door and Natsu grinned.

"We got a couple of hours. What's your name?" Silence for a few seconds.

"Lucy."

"Well Lucy I'm Natsu. Pleased to meet you."

"Why are you being nice? I saw what you did to those men." It was Natsu's turn to pause before answering.

"You know we really don't like killing. Even now this long on the road together none of us actually enjoy the act of doing it. But sometimes we have to. If we truly don't then there's no point but if it's life or death we do what we have to." Natsu looked down at his feet sadly. "We all learned that the hard way at some point." The silence between them was longer this time before Lucy finally spoke.

"Can I come with you?" Natsu smiled.

"Tell you what. We'll talk about it in the morning okay?"

"Okay." The rest of the night went on in silence and a few hours later the sun started to rise on a new day.

**Looks like a new player has joined! Sorry for slow/random updates, I'm doing this one as I go. Please review and comment!**


	3. Chapter 3

"No." Gajeel crossed his arms and glared down at the blonde haired girl that stood in front of him. "Not happening. We tried four once, that didn't end well."

"One more mouth to feed but at the same time one more person for group strength." Gray looked her up and down while reviewing the options.

"Still a no. We don't need a girl in the group, that always causes problems." To make his point Gajeel stared down Gray and waited for him to react.

"Come on guys. We need another person. We were a group of four since this all began!" Natsu was trying his best but so far it wasn't working that well. They had been conversing for an hour, all the while scouring through stores and homes of the small town that they had slept in that night. Lucy trailed beside them silently listening to the conversations being held between the men.

"And look where that got us!" He didn't yell but there was some pain in Gajeel's voice.

"That was a fluke. Bad decisions were made and consequences were dire."

"He DIED!" They were standing in an old ratty book store when Gajeel finally snapped. He turned and threw a kick out that caught Natsu in the chest, sending him into a bookshelf that stood behind him. Dusty volumes and novels came crashing down on the man but before the last ones hit the ground he was back up and swinging a right hook into Gajeel's chin.

"Will you two knock it off." Before they could engage any more Gray snapped his blue duester and appeared silently between them. "We don't need this right now." He looked at Lucy. She was wearing black jeans and a grey tank top with a black leather coat that came down to her hips thrown over top of it. A black Blue Jays tuque sat on top of her long blonde hair with a dark blue scarf wrapped around her neck. All of it was covered in mud and dust though showing the struggle that the clothes had brought their wearer through in the five years since the Apocalypse.

"Can you fight?" He stared her down for a couple seconds before she answered.

"Yes."

"Who taught you?"

"My father."

"Where is he now?" Tears welled up in her eyes.

"Dead."

"So you have nobody?"

"Nobody." Gray turned to the Gajeel.

"Two to one. I say give her a chance." Gajeel just snorted and pulled his black hood up over his face and went back to looking through the books.

"Thank you." Lucy smiled at Gray. "What are you looking for anyways?"

"Well we need something to do while we're on the road!" Natsu popped up from behind a random shelf farther in the back. "How many more of those Percy Jackson books you need Gray?" Gray pursed his lips together in thought.

"Last two of the second series if they got em!" A smile lit up Natsu's face as he held up the books that Gray had just described.

"Nice!"

"Hey Pinky!" Natsu turned to Gajeel who was holding three massive volumes in his hands. "Histories of Middle-Earth. Still in good condition as well. Peace offering." He shoved the books into Natsu's hands and walked out of the book store sullenly. Natsu just kept grinning as he put put the books into his pack before shouldering the weight of his life back on.

"Alright let's get out of here." They all walked out and into the late-morning sun that shone above them. The day seemed rather nice, or what passed for nice since the war, with the clouds being almost white instead of the usual silvery grey that hung around the world. The wind had died as well leaving the world around them in a strange silence. The dust still flowed through the air but at a much nicer pace that didn't choke when walking.

"We gonna make it to the next town before night Natsu?" Gray kept his eyes on the paved road ahead.

"Probably not. Left a little later than we could have. I'd say we'll get just under half way before we're forced to stop." Natsu was looking at a map he had pulled out of his coat pocked and matching it to where the Sun was and a compass that he held up with it. "I think we're in Monticello, just South of here is the University of Arkansas actually. We would be able to get a little farther than Monroe today but there's a good stretch of nothing after that so stopping there before we hit that would be a good idea. If only we had a fucking-"

"Jeep!" Lucy shouted and startled them all into looking across the stree twhere there in fact did sit a lone Jeep.

"Holy shit."

"No way does it work." The group moved cautiosly towards it weapons drawn. Lucy had Natsu's knife still in her hand but had yet to be given any kind of fire arm. The other three had their weapons out and moved in a practiced fashion with all of them walking in sync with their chests slanted slightly to their right. When they got to the Jeep they circled it and wiped the windows to check inside.

"Nobody." Gajeel growled.

"Open in three...two...one!" Natsu opened the passenger door, Gajeel the drivers and Gray the back left and stepped back with their guns aimed at the openings. Nothing happened and the men gave a sigh of relief before reholstering their weapons. Lucy opened the trunk and started checking for supplies and weapons.

"Anything?"

"No!" The blonde huffed and crossed her arms. "Do you think it'll start?"

"Haven't found one yet that does. Probably doesn't even have a battery in-" Gray yelped when the engine of the Jeep roared to life with rumbling passion. Natsu laughed and danced around in a circle while Gajeel stuck his head out the open door and laughed.

"Gee-hee, you were saying Icicle?"

"Fuck off." Gray hopped in the back with Lucy while Natsu hopped in the front.

"It got gas?"

"Full tank if you can believe it."

"Nice!"

"Where to Fireman!"

"South on the 425 until you hit Monroe! Next stop, Louisiana!"

**The group gains a new member and a vehicle! Where exactly is it that they're heading, and what stories will be told along the way? Read and Review y'all!**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: The chapters are coming out pretty quickly right now because I have HUGE writers block over the second part of my Zombie AU so I'm hoping this clears my head a bit and gives some room for me to finish that up. **

Five hours into the trip the group had switched things up a bit. Gajeel now sat in the passenger seat and Gray was driving with his iPod headphones on blaring music into his ears. For 5 years he had been saving the thing, only turning it on when he absolutely needed to calm himself but now with the discovery of the Jeep and power cords in said Jeep he was having fun just listening to what he loved. Natsu sat in the back with Lucy, twirling his lighter in left hand and resting his head upon the right one against the window. Lucy looked over at the man and noticed caught a glimpse of the letters that were inscribed onto the side of it.

G.C.

"G.C.? Who's G.C.?" Natsu stopped fiddling with the lighter and slipped it back into his pocket without taking his eyes off the passing trees outside the Jeep. There was an eery silence for a minute or two before he finally spoke.

"My sensei. I knew him since I was a kid, owned a dojo near my house." He paused before continuing. "We were on our way to a martial arts competition in Chicago when the world went to shit. We kept going and found Gajeel in downtown Columbus and Gray on the outskirts of Lexington. Five years of travelling across the continent and we were all still together. He taught us, protected us, kept us all safe. Then a couple weeks ago-"

"Shut up." The two jumped when Gray's voice came from the drivers seat.

"What?"

"I said shut up. We just met her. I know you need someone to talk to about it but she ain't the right one." The only sound for the next couple minutes was Gajeel's snoring and the rumbling of the engine.

"I'm sorry." Lucy looked down at the floor of the vehicle. "I know how hard it is to lose people." A tear strolled its way down her cheek.

"Who were you with before you found us?"

"A band called the Celestials-"

"Never heard of them."

"They were more Indie Rock than anything. They were good though, they had a good sound. I was going around with them on their tour and we had just hit Cincinnati when everything happened. I've been wandering ever since." More tears joined the first one and soon the blonde was crying away with Natsu and Gray sitting awkwardly beside and in front of her. When she had finally calmed down a little bit Gray continued his interrogation.

"What were you doing on the road with a band? Were you like the stage manager or something?" Lucy shook her head.

"No, nothing like that." She almost seemed embarrased when she continued. "My father was um, was the owner of their record label and I was the one that convinced him to sign them." Gray and Natsu started laughing.

"Rich girl eh? So who were you fucking in the band that convinced you to do it?" Her mouth dropped and she gave Natsu an incredulously insulted look.

"How dare you! I would never-"

"Come on, spit it out." Gray stared at her from the rearview mirror.

"Loke their lead vocalist." Lucy crossed her arms and glared at the two men who both just laughing. After a couple minutes they finally both calmed down enough to talk again.

"Okay. Okay we'll stop. We're sorry." Natsu sounded genuine enough which made Lucy smile a little bit at the man.

"Wanna explain why you have pink hair?" Natsu brought a hand up to his hair and twirled some of the longer strands.

"Dyed it pink when I lost a bet. As far as some guy with a doctorate or something can tell, it has to do with the radiation that was thrown into the wind. I don't know of the details but essentially the chemicals fused to the hair DNA or some bullshit. All I know is this is the end result! I've even shaved my head completely and it all came back!" He laughed until a loud bang caused a hole to appear in the windshield and then the back window.

"FUCKING HELL!" Gray hit the brakes and pulled a gun from his left holster. Gajeel woke up a second later and pulled both of his pistols out while also unbuckling his seatbelt. Natsu from the back tossed his pistol to Lucy who caught it with expert hands and waited for the Jeep to stop. Gray hit the emergency brake near his foot and spun the Jeep so that its passenger side faced the road and the four jumped out and behind the wheels of it with Gajeel launching himself across the arm rest and through the drivers side door that faced the way they had been coming from. The echoes of the rifle that had put a hole in the windshield could still be heard way off in the distance but when it faded nothing could be heard save for the chirps of random insects and birds that flitted their way through the trees on either side of the highway. The four sat with baited breath, waiting for something to happen. Finally Gajeel yelled out.

"Whoever the fuck that was you woke me up from my nap!"

"Sorry! Needed to get your attention." The womans voice came from right above them. As a group the four raised their guns and flattened their backs against the pavement to get a better shot.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A gruff male voice called to them from the trees and the group finally looked at their surroundings. Including the sillhouette that was standing on the roof of the Jeep, they were surrounded by five people. On their right was the man who had talked; muscle bound in every way and holding what looked like an M16 in his hands. Beside him a busty woman with long brown hair and rectangular glasses held a standard hunting rifle. Both were wearing camo military uniforms. On their left the same military uniforms but two men instead both holding M16's as well. The one of the right was taller with dark purple hair, his shorter friend on the left had long green hair that was scraggly and unkempt.

"Get up slowly and put your weapons on the ground." The sillhouetted woman called to them from the top of the Jeep. The group did everything they were told and voluntarily raised their hands as well.

"Good!" The woman jumped down and turned to them. Short, white hair and wearing what looked like a black Navy Seals tactical uniform and boots she came up to Natsu and looked him up and down. She carried an M107 rifle over her right shoulder and held her chest out enough to pop her bust as much as possible. "Bag em!" Before they could react sacks were thrown over their heads and the world went black.

1 Hour Later

Natsu was sure they were in Monroe now. He knew he had been put in the back of a pick up truck because it was incredibly windy and the noise from said wind was louder than normal. The truck had slowed down just now and Natsu was pretty sure there was a second one behind his that held the rest of the company. Suddenly the truck started taking turns and Natsu knew they had definitely reached a town, probably Monroe since it was the closest one. With a squeak the truck rolled to a stop and Natsu was hauled out with a grunt and led up what felt like stone steps. He heard the groaning of doors and before he could take in anything else his hood was pulled off and Natsu was left standing in the middle of a wood furnished courtroom. On his left were the empty benches of where the Jury would normally be and on his right a huge table where he could see all their weapons laid out. It was in front of Natsu and the others that had been lined up beside him that his attention was brought to suddenly. Where the desk for the judge should have been was a large chair and in it sat the most beautiful woman Natsu had ever seen. Her long white hair flowed down to the middle of her back at least, her gorgeous, curved body fitting perfectly into an officers uniform and piercing blue eyes boring deep into her core.

"My name is Colonel Strauss formerly of the United States Army and now Chief Commanding Officer of the Town Republic of Monroe. You have thirty seconds each to state who you are and where you are going or I will kill you. Before you start let me make one thing clear; I am not joking and I will know if you are lying."

**The plan was laid out, the wheels were turning and pasts were being shared. Of course when do plans ever go as they're supposed to? Don't know when the next chapter will be out! Read/Review y'all and thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

Natsu gulped. Colonel Strauss may have been beautiful but her voice was commanding and tough. The way she looked into his soul with those eyes that seemed to have gone from soft and lovely to cold and demonizing instantaneously.

"My name is Natsu. The taller one is Gajeel, the ugly one is Gray and the chick is Lucy." There was a grunt from the others as each was named except for Gray who Natsu could feel glaring into the side of his head.

"Alright now what's your purpose for coming into our territory." She barely moved any other muscles as she talked, it didn't even look like Strauss was breathing.

"We didn't see any signs stating it was your territory. If we had seen anything to suggest this area was taken we would have taken a different route and gone around. We're heading South because... well because we have nowhere else to go." Natsu finally broke eye contact and looked down at the ground. "We didn't mean any trouble. We're not dangerous."

"The last person who told me he wasn't dangerous caused this town and myself a lot of pain." Natsu looked back up at her.

"But we're not whoever that was and-"

"You, Gajeel your name was?" Gajeel nodded. " You were caught dual-weilding Colt Anaconda revolvers. Firing those with both hands on the gunis hard enough but one in each? Only the deadliest of men or the strongest would know how to do that."

"You trying to compliment me or something Colonel? Cause it sure as fuck sounds like it."

"Mind. Your. _Tongue_." Venom was spat from the last word. "I will not have that kind of language in my house."

"I don't really give a fuck what you want in your building. You took away my guns, you put a bag over my head, you threw me into the back of a pickup truck and now are having me stand in front of you like an interrogation. So don't sit there on your big fucking chair and tell me to watch my fucking language or I'll come over there and beat your ass into it." There was a silence that could have been cut through with a knife if somebody had one on them. Strauss went from scary to down right terrifying as she stared Gajeel down.

"If that's what you want." She stood up from the chair that she was in and walked down the few steps to the main floor. "Come and get me."

"Gee-hee." Gajeel didn't even think about what was going on but instead charged straight in for the fight. His first right hook was heading right for Strauss' head and would have connected if she hadn't suddenly disappeared from his view. One second she was there and the next gone only to reappear behind him and in one fell swoop snap a left punch into his right shoulder and snap it out of the socket. With a grunt Gajeel reacted to the hit and moved right, straight into a roundhouse kick that brought him down in a second. Strauss stood over the breathing, K.O.'d body of Gajeel for a few seconds before looking over at Natsu, Gray and Lucy who were all standing completely still; mouths gaping open and eyes bulging out of their heads.

"I will have somebody fix his shoulder. You already have rooms set up and your weapons will be returned to you. Please don't fuck up the chance you're being given or I will kill you myself." With that the gorgeous woman turned on her heels and walked out of the courtroom while the group that had brought them into the town escorted Natsu, Gray and Lucy to their weapons.

Mira moved out the door on the side of the room that led to the hallway, striding down it with perfect military precision. She was thinking about the group as she walked. The blonde was no threat, neither were Gajeel or Gray. Natsu on the other hand... Mira smiled to herself; Natsu could be fun to play with for a bit. Realizing what she was thinking the Colonel shook her head to clear the thoughts away.

The old wooden walls echoed her footsteps up the staircase that she got to and without breaking stride she went up them and into the door on her right. Reaching her office the white haired Colonel felt warm arms wrap around her and she sighed when her blonde, spiky-haired love pulled her in for a kiss.

"Now that wasn't so hard to deal with was it?"

"Not at all my love." She stared into his eyes. Those lovely grey eyes. She loved Laxus. She loved him more than anything in the world.

Back in the courtroom

The largest of the men with a white hair like Strauss -and the first girl they had met with short hair- picked up Gajeel fireman style and grabbed his Colts on the way by the table. Natsu went to grab his own shotgun but ended up grabbing the hand of the short haired girl from before who had also gone to grab the gun.

"Sorry." The girl blushed a little bit and averted her eyes to the right.

"What's your name?" Natsu looked down at her while checking the ammo on his shotgun. Her eyes were the same blue as what Natsu guessed was her sister who had just beat the shit out of Gajeel.

"Second Lieutenant Lisanna Strauss of the United States Marines." There was a sudden formality to her voice when she talked about her rank that made Natsu smile.

"Lieutenant eh? Impressive."

"Not as impressive as big sister. She got to Colonel faster than anybody in history AND she's a woman." Natsu nodded along with her.

"That is impressive. So you gonna show us to our places?" The girl smiled.

"Absolutely!" They all walked out of the courthouse; all except Gajeel who was being carried by the larger man. "The guy carrying your friend, my big brother, is Elfman."

"Wait. As in the wrestler?" Gray looked over at the large camo-suited man. "That is awesome! Dude can I have your autograph?"

"Only a real man would know who I am! I'll give you more than an autograph I'll teach you some of my moves!" Gray grinned and looked around the street they were walking up. The main shops that would have normally covered the downtown area of the town had been turned into food storages, ammo depots and makeshift hospitals and nurseries. People in all manner of dark clothing moved around the town carrying crates with food and other things from one side of the street to another. As Lisanna and Natsu talked their way up the street a soccer ball came flying out of nowhere and straight for Gray's head.

"Watch out!" Before he could even react the green-haired man was in front of him, heading the ball straight up in the air and juggling it off his knees when it came back down. After a couple of hits he let it drop and fired it back up the street to where a dark-blue haired teenager stood waiting for it.

"Thanks !" She ran off with a purple haired boy and a little girl in a cowboy hat. The guy whose name was Freed apparently turned and grinned at Gray.

"Gotta let them have fun sometimes eh?"

"Yeah, right." The rest of the way down the road the group chatted away and Lisanna gave details about the town.

"When everything went down the town came together and built a wall around it, you can't really see it well from here but it's about twelve feet high." At that point the group got to a small square in the middle of the town and as they made their way across it Lucy noticed a large statue of what looked like a rather young man in military fatigue like the others from the group that had captured them.

"Whose that?" Lisanna stopped talking and looked up at the statue. His feet were spread out and aligned with his shoulders, his arms crossed over his puffed out chest and a pair of headphones lay around his neck just to throw the whole 'military style' look off a bit.

"Laxus. About a year ago he saved this whole town by fighting a band of rogues off by himself. Though he died in the process. He was also Mira's husband."

**Alliances are forged and some others don't seem to be off to a great start... Read and Review y'all!**


	6. Chapter 6

Natsu lay on a bed with fresh linen sheets. His hair was still damp from the shower he had taken, a shower with actual _hot _water! A new pair of jeans that fit perfectly sat on his hips and a grey button down plaid shirt hung from a chair next to the door of his room. His shotgun was propped next to his nightstand where his other personal stuff lay and Natsu was just about to doze off to sleep when a knock came at his door. He didn't even feel the knife in his hand and would have opened the door with it there if the blade hadn't knicked his thumb on the way out.

"Shit." Natsu flicked the doorknob with his left hand and stuck his right thumb in his mouth to catch the blood that had started flowing.

"Hi! Are you...oh God are you okay?" Lisanna barged into the room and grabbed Natsu's hand out of his mouth and inspected the small cut in his thumb.

"For someone who shoots a Baretta the way you do that was a quick response to a little scratch." The white-haired girl smiled innocently at him while looking directly into his eyes.

"Because no matter how nice I am I can still kill ya!" She poked his nose before turning around and walking outside. "Put a shirt on we're going out!"

"Out? Where?"

"The town of course!" Her voice was already disappearing down the hallway. Sighing and shaking his pink head Natsu grabbed the grey shirt on the chair along with his shot gun and quickly followed her down the staircase of his third floor motel room and out the main doors while throwing his trenchcoat on himself, chattinering with her as their feet hit the pavement with soft clopping sounds. Lisanna had switched out of her military fatigues and was wearing light grey University of Arkansas sweatpants and a black jacket that hugged her figure tightly. Her blue eyes shone with mischief as she talked about the town and the layout of its post-end of the world reconstruction of sorts.

"When all the bombs went off people here didn't panic like most other places, instead everybody got right down to business and started building up the wall that you see circling the place. There are only two gates in and out of the place now, one in the North and one in the South. The wall itself is only a couple stories high but it does its job well. There are bandits all over this part of the road, I'm surprised you haven't found any yet!"

"Oh we did." Natsu was suddenly thinking back to the three men who had attacked him, Gajeel and Gray only a night or two ago. After he described the three to Lisanna she went silent as if in deep thought.

"I know those three. They killed some other people about a week ago. They were part of a pretty tough group of bandits called Eisenwald, after the two twins that you killed actually. They've tried to break in here a couple of times though, never actually succeeded but they sure have tried." Her voice got distant for a second before coming back. "I know where we can go! Come on!" Before any protest could be thrown up the girl had Natsu by the hand and was dragging him down the main street of the town where people barely even looked at them. After a block she slowed but kept her hand in his which he was totally okay with. As they walked Natsu checked out the people they were walking by and sized each one up and what kind of weapons they were carrying. It was generally as he expected it would be, pistols, rifles and shotguns scavenged from peoples houses and attics with a fully automatic rifle here and there that were probably grabbed by Lisanna and the other military people on their way to the town.

"Hey can I ask you about something?"

"Laxus, right?" There was a deep saddness in Lisanna's voice.

"Um, yeah, him."

"Sure! But if I'm gonna tell you I need something sweet." Without warning the white-haired girl turned left into a shop and almost taking Natsu's shoulder out of its shoulder in the process. Unlike the rest of the town the shop was bright and cheery with paintings of different kinds of cakes decorating the walls with splashes of colour. The perfectly white tiles gleamed with the anticipation of customers and across the well sized room with its many three person tables and standing behind a counter was a red haired woman with a wisk flying around a large metal bowl.

"Hey Erza!" The woman looked up from her whisk and smiled widely.

"Lisanna! I'm so glad you're here! I've got a fresh cake just about to come out of the oven!"

Elsewhere

Gray couldn't figure out what it was about her. Hiding in a tree just outside her main office, Gray had been watching the Colonel for what seemed like a few hours already. So far the most she had done was taken a shot of what was probably whiskey and changed her bra once or twice. Not that Gray truly minded that part, in fact it was a nice addition to his scouting mission. But still, after all of it, his gut just kept telling him that something wasn't right. Gajeel never had a gut feeling and Natsu's only gut feeling usually involved food but Gray? Gray's gut was never wrong. But after three hours of laying prone in a tree even he began to doubt himself. Maybe it was just his distrust for people in general? No, it couldn't have been that. One hour later Gray got his answer.

The Colonel had been sitting at her desk writing some papers when something changed. It was a small change, almost nothing more than a twitch of the corner of her mouth but it was a change none the less. She looked up from her oak desk and started talking to the chair in front of her. The one-person got heated with her looking more and more furious before finally she picked up the shot glass that had been sitting beside her and chucking it into the chair before starting to cry. The hair that lay around her shoulders became a tangled mess as she threw her head back and forth while scratching her nails into her scalp and heaving her shoulders up and down. After a few minutes of this the freaking out seemed to have stopped and all that was left was a ball of white messy hair laying on the desk. Gray had seen enough, his heart was beating out of his chest and his breathing was shallow with distress. They needed to get out of here and they needed to do it now. He slid one leg off the branch he had been laying on when Mira's head shot upwards and turnerd sideways to look right at him, her wild eyes fixating on his. Gray couldn't move out of complete panic but it didn't matter. A second after their eyes locked, his world went black.

**Whew what a hiatus! Sorry about that y'all a concussion kind of put me out of work for a while and then school started again and, well y'all get the picture. Anyways! This chapter has been long in the works and I hope y'all enjoy! Read and Review and tell me what ya think!**


	7. Chapter 7

12 hours before the events of last chapter

In an abandoned building not far from there sat a man. He wasn't a young man with his gre pointy beard and patch covering his right eye. Around him men with rifles, shotguns, pistols and an assortment of knives and other weapons cleaned and sharpened. His throne was set up in the gymnasium of a university, he hadn't cared to find out the name even after all this time. It was an old chair taken from the basement of the university, on lone to their history department from some museum. The chair wasn't comfy but it looked nice and that was really all that mattered the man only known as Hades cared about.

"Listen up!" The men all around the gym, numbering around sixty in all, immediately stopped what they were doing and looked over.

"We have a nice little town sitting just south of us that has no clue we're here. We struck once a year ago and came up with some results but not enough! But now their leader has, according to my spies anyways, lost her damn mind! I say we take advantage of that and get us some provisions, what say the rest of you?!" The group cheered and hollered and stomped their feet before being silenced by a raised hand.

"We will strike like we did a year ago! Hard and fast and devastatingly but this time we will not fail! We will bring it down and take all that we will need for years to come!" The roar that came from the group was louder than the last and only got more so when Hades raised himself from his chair and raised his hands, his black cloak flowing over his combat gear. He grinned widely, this time he would take the town, this time he would win.

Back in Monroe

"Little idiots running off. Seriously couldn't even leave a fucking note or anything like that. Now where the hell are they?" Gajeel grumbled and moped his way throughout the town trying to find Gray and Natsu. He had woken up to a doctors office, his revolvers sitting on the desk to his right. His clothes were all on except for his duster which hung on a coat hook on the purple door and his right shoulder killing him. Grumbling he'd gotten up and grabbed his stuff, holstering his guns and swearing about how all his ammo had better still be in the pockets, which it was. He didn't talk to anybody in the office on the way out the door as there hadn't actually been anybody but when he did finally emerge from the small building he found himself about a block away from the courthouse. Choosing a direction he headed off from there.

So far all he had seen were a bunch of people he didn't know and a bunch of stores he didn't care to go into. When Gajeel finally did find Natsu he was in a bakery, deep in conversation with Lisanna.

"Well I don't wanna get in the way of that!" He kept going deciding to look for Gray, hell even Lucy would have been nice even if he had just met her. Not his type in any way but at least she had a nice pair.

"A bookstore? If the bastard isn't in there then I'm going and getting drunk." When he walked in Gajeel didn't expect the small blue haired girl that came up to him to be so cute. Wearing black leather pants, a yellow sundress and a green bandana on the top of her head to help tie back her blue hair, she had a no-nonsense attitude about her and went straight for the point.

"What are you looking for?" Gajeel was taken aback, never before had he met someone who just walked up to him and looked him in the eyes instead of his piercings.

"Ummm, my friend! You seen anybody come in here that you've never met?" She huffed and turned away.

"Nope! I'm far to busy to remember right now anyways so if you find something you want to trade for come see me!" With that the woman walked away leaving Gajeel completely flabbergasted.

"What the fuck is it with the women in this place?!" He went to turn away when two things happened. The first was the sound of a rifle going off followed by shattered glass, the second was the store across the street from him blowing up and sending him flying backwards.

In an undisclosed location

"Juvia doesn't know what you did wrong." Words came swimming through the black void. His head ached and his body groaned.

"Juvia doesn't know why she likes this so much." A sound. Sniffing? That couldn't have been good. A seconds pause before another large sniff followed by a gasp with a sigh of relief mixed in.

"But Juvia does know that you need to tell her what you were doing in a tree." Light through his eyelids. Bright and hot against the back of his skull.

Gray's eyes flashed open to find a huge light bulb concentrated directly on his face. He tried to shield his eyes with his hands but found they couldn't move. His feet were the same but before he could panic the light was thrown away from him and in its place stood a diamond face with large blue eyes and even bluer hair. Her lips were tight with abnormal concentration but that wasn't what Gray was worried about nor was it what he was looking at. It was her nose and the white, powdery substance siting just underneath her nostrils. Upon seeing his eyes open the girls face lightened and a smile spread across her face.

"You're awake! Good!" She held up a pair of overly large pliers "We have so much to discuss."

**I know, I know, it's a relatively short chapter but I've got so much going on right now this was all I could do! Besides, it really is a good suspense chapter don't ya think? ;) Either way I hope it satisfies a little bit. Read and Review y'all!**


	8. Not a Chapter: Update

**Hi y'all I'm really sorry that there have been no chapter uploads lately.**

**It's been a little hectic over on this side. My last year of post-seconday, a new job, a relationship, I've really had no time to write and I do apologize for that. **

**With only a couple weeks left of this term I hope to be in a position where I can write and upload and get things rolling again so I hope y'all can just be patient a little while longer**

**Thanks for the support I've been getting from you guys about what's been written so far**

**Your friendly neighbourhood anime lover**

cFairyWriter


	9. Chapter 8

**I am soooooooo sorry that I haven't updated this story in so long. The writers block is real. But! Now that school has ended and I've been working, the writing brain is back in action! So here's a (really) short chapter to get things going and get us back into the action!**

"So tell me about this Laxus guy." Natsu scooped another bite of cake into his mouth. It was one of the best tasting things he'd ever had! He could almost taste the actual egg that was used to make it! Lisanna smiled sadly before she bagan her story.

"He was a rank above Mira. Always. We all knew each other since we were kids but Laxus, well, he was the real leader. Always rallin gus together and getting us to do things that we at first didn't want to do. He went into the military and we all followed. From there things just kind of took off to be honest." Lisanna paused to eat some cake.

"Him and Mira married just before this all started, friends for the entire time before that. Things were pretty great to be honest. We fortified the town and figured out how to get energy from a nearby river. Life was good. Then those bandits started attacking."

"The first couple attacks were small. Nothing more than some gunfire exchanges every once in a while so we thought nothing of it. Then one night everything went to hell. They came with trucks and weapons and drove right through the gates killing everybody in their way. We had no plans to deal with that kind of attack at the time, no preprations or even any idea that something like this could happen."

"When they got to the front of the Courthouse Laxus was waiting for them with an machine gun. He opened fire and just started mowing down enemy after enemy, screaming bloody murder. He got shot in so many places but he just kept firing and firing. Killed at least half of them just in that one spot. Everybody rallied behind him and helped to chase them off but not before he lost too much blood." Lisanna's voice cracked and she had to stop telling her story. They sat in silence eating their cake before she finally looked up at him again.

"I've told you our story, you have to tell me one now."

"Any in particular?" Natsu already had an idea of what she was gonna ask.

"Who's G.C.?" Lisanna inquired. Natsu sat back and looked at her.

"He was our teacher. Gray, Gajeel and I travelled with him for the last five years trying to find somewhere safe."

"What happened to him?"

"We were attacked a few weeks ago. It was my fault though. I wanted to barter and-"

A gunshot rang out. Glass shattered. Behind Natsu Erza screamed and in front of him Lisanna slumped forward onto the table. Blood splattered his cake.

**There'll be another chapter out this week guys. Much longer (maybe the longest of this series) and jam packed with action! Please read and review y'all. I love hearing what you think!**


	10. Chapter 9

A/N: Honestly? I almost feel bad for this chapter. Please, please review this guys! I really need to know what you think.

Carnage.

Smoke.

Screams of despair.

Lucy tried to run through all of it in hopes of finding her group while carrying pretty much all of their stuff. As soon as the first explosion had rocked the town Lucy had grabbed all their still packed duffel bags and wepaons and very discretly thrown them into the truck they had been taken into town in. She was about to run past a burning bookstore when Gajeel came bursting out of it carrying what looked to be a small blue-haired woman.

"Lucy!" What the hell is going on?!" He laid the woman down and got to work checking her pulse. Realizing there wasn't one he began CPR on her, pushing down on her breast and applying air to her lungs. Lucy just stood watching in horror. She didn't think somebody like Gajeel would know anything about CPR. After what felt like an eternity the little womans chest started slowly rising on its own.

"Thank God. Luce! Carry her towards the South exit of this place and find a vehicle! I'm going to look for Natsu and Gray!"

"What then?!" Lucy called after him as the large man ran down the street towards the bakery.

"We'll figure it out if anybody is still alive! Just get away from this fighting!"

Gajeel pushed past people running in terror and passing out weapons. They seemed to all be running towards the North part of the town. Gunfire was ringing out all over the place and some very nasty looking people were starting to pour into the streets from alleys strewn around the town. Reaching the bakery he found Natsu crouched behind a cement barrier with Lisanna who was holding her left shoulder in pain. Blood was pouring from it and the girls was grimacing with the pain.

"Natsu!" Gajeel dove behind the barrier in time to avoid a spray a bullets from a cluster of people who had just run out from behind an alley.

"What the FUCK is going on?!" Natsu fired off a couple rounds and looked to Gajeel for the answer.

"Oh yeah. I know! I know exactly what's going on! I DON'T HAVE A FUCKING CLUE!" A car half way down the block blew up. "We gotta find Gray and get out of here!"

"We're not going anywhere!" Lisanna glared at Gajeel. "This is my home and I'm defending it!"

"Fantastic. Lovely idea. Anywhere in particular that people would be heading for to defend what's LEFT of it?!"

"The courthouse. It has most of our weapons and ammo in it. Plus it's the best place for snipers!" As if on cue a large gunshot rang out and from the other side of the street an attackers head exploded.

"Gray might be there as well!" Said Gajeel.

"We'll head there then. I'll cover you!" Natsu stood and opened fire, giving Gajeel and Lisanna time to run towards the courthouse.

Their run was being covered by whoever was sniping on the roof. Every time someone aimed for them a large bang rang out and the attacked would die.

"One hell of a guardian angel we got up there." Gajeel grunted.

"Alzack and Bisca are the best snipers we have! They used to be hunters actually." Another shot, another kill. "They taught me everything I know! Ow." Lisanna grimaced and put more pressure on her bleeding shoulder. Around them others from the town were making their way to the courthouse and barricading themselves inside. It was easy to tell who the attackers were now, they looked nothing like the townspeople. When they had first arrived Natsu hadn't understood why everyone seemed so clean shaven and put together but now, as thugs and ruffians tried to gain control of the town, it made more sense. The people of the town clean and fit, their clothes pressed and their way of talking more like what it used to be before the world went to shit. None of them wore army fatigues or uniforms, but it was easy to tell which side they were on.

Launching themselves up the steps of the courthouse the trio hid behind the columns of the entrance and Natsu started returning fire over the heads of townspeople streaming in around him. Gajeel grabbed himself a weapon from a dead townsperson who lay beside his column. Around them more and more people were starting to return fire and it looked like the rest of Lisanna's team had arrived as well. Elfman, Bickslow and Ever were all on the roof taking aim and mowing town targets while the sounds of sniper-fire continued from up on the roof. There wasn't any sign of Freed though. Natsu went to reload when he realized he had no more ammo. Before he could yell out a woman with dark blue hair appeared beside him and handed him a bunch of pre-loaded ammo.

"Juvia sees you need this."

"Um. Yeah! Thanks!" The girl just nodded and walked away. "Well that was weird." Natsu turned and continued firing. From the corner of his eye he saw Lisanna, who had been slumped against the column with her eyes closed, get up slowly and head for the doors.

"Where are you going?!"

"I need to find Mira!"

Undiclosed location

Gunshots.

Pain.

Explosions.

That damned light blasting his eyes again.

Gray finally forced his eyes open. So much pain. His brain was barely functioning at this point. Where had the crazy woman gone? It didn't matter much really, just as long as she wasn't there with him. Tears started falling from his eyes. His mouth was still strapped shut, he couldn't make any noise for help. Gray knew he was probably to weak to make noise even if he wanted to right now anyways. He tried moving his arms. Fingers were all he could move. Something was missing though. He frowned. Was he missing fingers? He tilted his head as much as he could. A table! There on the table sat those pliers the crazy woman had been using. Beside them sat a small flesh-coloured thing with white in the middle. If he had the energy Gray might have thrown up.

Noise. Footsteps. Somebody was coming? The tears started flowing more freely. He was afraid of her. So very afraid.

But the footsteps were different from hers. Who was it then? Somebody coming to rescue him? It had to be! Who else possibly knew he was here?

She came into view. Gray openly cried now. He needed to get out of here. He needed to warn everybody about this woman.

"I'm sorry." Colonel Strauss looked him in the eyes as she spoke and moved towards his chair.

"I'm sorry that after almost a full day she never got more than your name. I know her methods well, but I needed her to do this." The Colonel stopped beside him and ran a perfectly manicured nail down Gray's scarred and mauled naked upper body.

"I needed to know what you saw. And still you told her nothing."

CLICK

"It's rather admirable you know. But now it seems somebody is coming after my town. I can't exactly have anybody finding an alive body down here. I can spin it well, that crazed woman has been saying crazy things for years, nobody would believe her if she said it wasn't her who killed you."

Gray gasped through the strap that was muzzling him. Cold. Something cold right above his heart.

"So once again."

BANG

"I'm sorry."


	11. Chapter 10

"JUVIA WILL NOT LET YOU TOUCH HIM!" The woman came out of nowhere, flailing a pistol wildly around while running straight into the injured Colonel. Screaming in pain and fury the Colonel swung at the blue-haired woman and sent her crashing into a table of surgical tools.

"You dumb bitch!" Mira raised her pistol to fire but was tackled by Juvia sending them both onto the surgical table where Gray lay still strapped down.

A shot of pain in his wrist caused the man to cry out in agony and he instinctively brought it up to his eyes to see what the problem was.

His hand! There was a slice in it right where the strap used to be!

The two fighting women had collapsed to the ground beside the table now, fighting with an animalistic fury. Gray used the distraction to free his other hand and start on his ankles.

"_Have to get out of here!"_ He screamed at himself internally. _"Have to warn the others and get the fuck out of here!"_ He got the legs undone and bolted off the table; only to land flat on his face in pain. His legs wouldn't work. Days of not being used had rendered them all but useless in the moment that Gray needed them the most.

On the other side of the table that Gray had previously been on the women had gotten up and were engaged in hand to hand combat. Juvia was slashing at the Colonel with a knife she had picked up when she was slammed into her surgical equipment.

"I gave you everything!" The Colonel screamed at her while avoiding a slash. "A place to live! Toys to play with! And this is how you repay me?!" Another slash came at her face but this time Mira was ready for it. Grabbing Juvia's wrist she pulled the doctor towards herself letting their hips collide and in one fluid motion, spun Juvia around and onto the table. Juvia was winded by the impact but was still struggling to get up but Mira was the stronger of the two.

"You think just because you surprised me it means you were going to win this fight?!" Mira had the knife in her hand now. "You think you'll ever beat me? NOBODY CAN BEAT ME!" She thrust down into Juvia's stomach making her scream in agony. The Colonel raised the knife again. Juvia screamed in frustration and pain.

"NOBODY!" _Squelch._

"WILL" _Squelch._

"EVER" _Squelch._

"BEAT" _Squelch._

"ME!" _Squelch._

The screaming of Juvia had stopped. The noise of fighting and gunfire outside had stopped. Everything but the sound of Colonel Strauss stabbing the body of a now dead Juvia over and over again had stopped. Gray had finally gotten the gag off himself as he crawled for the door bleeding and praying that he wouldn't be noticed by the obviously insane woman. He was so close to the door. His hands were in the doorway now. He pulled forward and put one hand on the doorframe and part of the wall beside it to pull himself farther.

The knife went through the back of his hand and into the wall. Gray wailed in despair.

"Don't think I forgot about you." Gray's blood went cold.

"Please. I didn't do anything." He cried.

"You did though. You saw me. You've seen all this. I can't let my grip on this town go. I can't let it go! As soon as my grip goes everything I love goes with it! That's how he died!"

"You mean Laxu-"

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SAY HIS NAME!" Mira strode over to the man. Leaning down so that she was eye to eye with him the crazed woman put the tip of her knife to Gray's chest and slowly started pushing in.

"Once I'm done here, I'm going after your friends. This is all their fault! All of it! If you hadn't come none of this would have happened. If you hadn't climbed that tree it all would have been fine! So after I'm done here it'll be their turn! And then I'm going to kill everyone who just attacked my town. One. By. One." The blade slid deeper into Gray's chest but when he went to scream Mira covered his mouth.

"Ah ah ah. Can't have anybody hearing-"

"Mira?" A tiny voice echoed through the room. Mira stopped pushing the knife. She recognized that voice all too well.

"Mira what. What are you doing? Is that Juvia on the table? What happened to her and what- is that Gray?!" Lisanna was trying to comprehend it all while her sister stood up tall and slowly walked over to her.

"Lisanna. It's okay! It's all okay. I'll explain everything later." The blood-splattered Mira dropper the knife so she could wrap her arms around her little sister. "You just have to turn around and walk away, pretend none of this was ever here. Okay?" Mira pulled back from the hug and looked her sister in the eyes intently.

"Mira I- I don't know if I can!" Tears were starting to run down Lisanna's face. She had seen the look on Mira's face before. It had been on other soldiers' faces. The ones with so much PTSD and trauma that after years of hiding it had just lost it. It was a look that many of the soldiers once under her command had had before taking their own lives. It was a terrifying look.

"Oh Lisanna. Please don't worry." Mira was smiling now. "It's fine. It's all fine!" She couldn't figure out what was wrong with Lisanna! She would explain everything later! Her little sister wasn't even looking at her anymore. What was she looking at then?

_Squelch_

"Oh." There was pain. So much pain in her back. But Lisanna was now crying and gripping her so Mira couldn't turn around to see what was causing the pain.

_Squelch_

She needed to see what it was, but Lisanna wouldn't let go.

"I'm sorry Mira. I'm so, so sorry."

_Squelch_

There wasn't any pain. There was just a dull feeling in her body now. Mira felt her legs go and she collapsed to the floor in a pool of blood; some of it hers, some of it Gray's, and some of it Juvia's. Even Lisanna's blood was mixed in from her shoulder.

"_What is this feeling." _She had never felt it before. The strange sensation of dying. From where she lay all she saw was tile and blood.

"_This is dying...I'm dying. But... I can't die now...I have... so much to do...So much to...To protect...Wait...Who's that..." _The world had gone black to Mira. Black except for a single section right in the middle of her vision where it was blonde. A beautiful, golden blonde.

"_Laxus...My Laxus...You're here."_ She finally passed.

Above her a crying Lisanna and Gray stood looking down, the blade still in Gray's hand.

"I'm sorry. You can kill me if you want, but that woman caused me a lot of pain." Lisanna looked at him and finally took in the damage that had been caused. His right hand was missing the ring finger, there were gashes across his entire chest and some on his face, at least four of his toes and probably a rib or two were broken. The man was a real mess.

"It- It's okay. She was pretty gone but. Oh god I can't believe. What are we gonna- GRAY!" The man let the knife drop from his and as he fell forward, exhausted and bleeding to death.

**Longest. Cliffhanger. Ever. So I definitely just suddenly had the inspiration to write this and I really hope none of y'all are mad at me for it but anyways here's the ability to sleep better knowing how THAT ended! RnR y'all and REALLY sorry for the year long wait for an update**


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